1) Who is Scott Brits? (where are you from, what do you do, a bit about yourself (hobbies, etc)
Born and raised in Manchester UK, but now living in the countryside of Devon i run a functional fitness charity event called Battle Cancer which has so far raised over £500,000 for Cancer charities worldwide. I love to lift, try and compete in crossfit and spend time with my little family.
2) How many years have you been training? (Including how you got started, etc)
I have been training since the age of 7 in one way or another. As a big kid very overweight I found Thai Boxing and MMA training and fighting until I was 20 years old along with playing football, rugby and 100m, 200m sprints. I found powerlifting 5 years ago winning national titles and competing internationally. then 2 years ago started crossfit and dedicated to crossfit 12 months ago.
3) Whats been the most challenging/hardest part of your journey so far? and how have you overcome them (set backs, rejections, injuries, basically anything difficult that you have had to overcome)
The amount of injuries, I herniated discs in my back deadlifting for charity with a world record breaking 12 hour deadlift total. From years of martial arts i had super bad joints and then the extreme nature of powerlifting made my body really broken and tight. Focusing on mobility, fitness and becoming more rounded i have pulled these back. The biggest challenge in the past 18 months has been time. whilst working in the emergency services, running battle cancer and trying to train and compete this has been so hard, attempting to keep up with semi and professional athletes on 4 hours sleep and huge amounts of travel has been killer. Its also been a great way to reasses and learn how to rest, program smarter and prioritise training.
4) What does your typical workout/diet routine look like? (With any particular protocols you rate).
I follow a few training programmes with the bulk of this coming from Crossfit Invictus, I run some separate gymnastics and strengths programs that I design myself. I have been very lucky to learn strength peaking and programming from an incredible strength athlete Runar Geirdmundsson from iceland and my gymnastics is based from the programs of Crossfit athlete Zack George. When it comes to diet i have a number of intolerances to food so my diet is very specialized. i eat around 3800 calories a day with a split of 40% carbs, 35% protein and 25% fats. I am almost sugar free in my diet and dont drink alcohol.
5) What new knowledge have you learned over this past year regarding training, lifestyle and nutrition? (And How has it changed your focus for the future).
Rest, I have always been very good at being disciplined and working hard. The biggest thing has been learning how to recover correctly and ensuring that injury and fatigue doesn't stop my athletic potential. I have now put in really good warm up and cool down protocols and mobility sessions.
6) Whats your favourite cheat/Treat meal?
I don't really believe in cheat or treats, i feel this structures your daily diet to be something that you have to endure to then earn a treat. I try and structure if i want to eat something i will. Balance is huge and the key to long term success. I like to make home made pizzas and line that with some choc chip protein pancakes!
7) Whats one supplement that you could not live without?
Caffeine, i can get protein and everything else in food but i have to admit i love caffeine. As someone who doest drink coffee I use products like Nocco and pre workout to get that caffeine kick
8) If you had to start your Journey from scratch with both your health & physique what would you do differently and why?
Mobility, stretching and rest. Your body is capable of incredible things but you need to prepare it and treat it with the care it needs to do that. I have used mine as a wrecking ball until i hit 30. I hopefully still have some life in the body!
9) Who do you look upto in the fitness industry and why?
Samantha Briggs, the most professional and unbelievable athlete I have ever met. Her work ethic, drive, consistency and ability to deal with pain and fatigue is unmatched to me. Always friendly, open and so funny.
10) If you had to give one bit of advice to people starting out what would that be?
Write down your goals and your start date and time of when you made a decision to start and keep them close by and everytime you see someone else and compare, go back to your goals and start date. Look at them and remember everyone is on an individual path and in the end its about you, for you and made by you so dont beat yourself up comparing or changing your goals for others
11) What new goals do you have on the horizon?
I want to become a consistent Crossfit Sanctional athlete and try my hand an olympic weightlifting competition and also try and grow a platform and community of people who turn to fitness to help with mental health.
12) Where can people find you? (website, social media accounts)
At www.scottbrits.com , I have just launched my first attempt at a Blog with little updates of my travels and competitions.
Instagram you can see me at @scottbrits
